According to billingsgazette.net, fans will soon see a lot of Indiana Jones promotional artwork coming from Russell Walks, an artist who Star Wars fans may recognize from the Star Wars Celebration Art Shows and the Topps Galaxy trading card series. For Indy, it looks like Walks will be illustrating for Dr. Pepper, Kellogg’s, and others.

His work for the film includes a life-size cardboard standee of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones – yes, the one featuring an expression with “slight undertones of happiness.” Using promotional shots provided by LucasFilm and poses from members of his fan base, Walks created the piece after a little bit of struggle, mostly with those slight undertones.

He did 10 or 15 sketches until he was finally satisfied with the expression. From there he did a value drawing, with a full range of tonal values in black and white. Walks usually prefers to hand paint his artwork, but because of the tight deadlines on the “Indiana Jones” project, he did most of the color in Adobe Photoshop, then added brush strokes and “the twinkle in (Ford’s) eye.”

Oscars.org reports today that Drew Struzan, creator of countless illustrations gracing both Star Wars and Indiana Jones posters and products, has teamed up with son Christian to devise the stunning artwork for the 80th Annual Academy Awards poster. Here’s more from the site:

The official poster of the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences’ 80th Academy Awards® features the iconic Oscar glowing among bright lights against a black background.

Capturing the allure and excitement of the Oscars®, the design was originally conceived by legendary motion picture poster illustrator Drew Struzan and executed by his son, Christian.

It appears the poster itself is available for pre-order from the site so if you’re a fan of Struzan’s work, this will definitely be one you’ll want to pick up!

According to BoingBoing.net: “The fabled Ark of the Covenant may not be in some nondescript crate in a massive US government warehouse but rather in the small Ethiopian town of Aksum where it is guarded by a virgin monk who can never leave the chapel where it sits. And nobody else can see it either. Smithsonian magazine sent Paul Raffaele to investigate.”

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hits theaters May 22, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait to buddy up to Dr. Jones. Now for you social networking kids, Indiana Jones is officially on Myspace. So be sure to friend him now before Short Round makes it to his Top 10 Friends List.

Principal photography has ended on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and director Stephen Spielberg raises a glass to cast and crew in a toast. Take a look at the latest video clip that pays homage to the wraps of all the Indy movies in the VIDEO section of the newly redesigned IndianaJones.com.